Brazen Fox :: Quest For The Spell Forge

Following their encounter with the dragon, the party notes that the foul mist blowing through the land of the White Queen seems to lessen due to a rise behind them.

Climbing the rise, they notice a ruined chapel and scattered around the chapel are several obelisks with stone gargoyles atop. Cautiously examining the gargoyles and the ruin, the party discovers both the dragon’s hoard and the crate of diamonds promised them by Captain Argossy.

At that time the gargoyles break free from their stone shells and attack the party.

ROUNDONE. A mysterious message flashes in the air in front of the party. It reads:WARNNG: CO2 LEVEL .6%

Half of the party are overcome with dizziness and it adversely affects their effectiveness. The gargoyles proceed to move in and attack.

The lone remaining adventurer left standing is Ro-Kan. As a last resort he imbibes the potion of Polymorph he had on him and transforms into an incubus. He then orders the gargoyles to stand down. They reluctantly back away from the soon-to-be corpses and Ro-Kan takes the opportunity to gather up his party members into his bag of holding.

The party awakes in their deep sleep creches aboard the UPF LION’S MANE, a deep space exploration ship. An asteroid has collided with the ship, damaging its life support. They party has been in deep sleep for 4 years; for the last 2 years, the ship has been in orbit around a mysterious object: Tesseract, spanning 4 miles across, and hailing under the name SPELLFORGE.

The four skeletons wearing tattered robes and carrying large volumes in their hands are not so easily dealt with and turn on the party. Words hurt. In this case, they hurt a LOT.

The Judge sits impassive upon his throne; Titus has already fallen to his gaze, his mind on the verge of breaking him apart.

Perhaps discretion IS the better part of valour this time …

But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Entering the second chamber, the hallway mysteriously cuts half the party off from the rest. The remaining members: Ro-Kan, Titus, Al, and Turin go forward into the next chamber.

The large room has several columns holding up an ornate, vaulted ceiling. A large throne rests upon a huge dais, and a figure made of metal sits upon it. The room is littered with bones.

At the Judge’s command, skeletons form and attempt to bring the Defendants — our heroes — before the court. Hence the Fwoosh’s.

The court is presided over by Judge Ammeg-Mon. It appears they are picking up where they had left off some centuries earlier.

The party pleads their innocence and in the process breaks Ammeg-Mon’s logic programming. The Prosecution rests — permanently, after having their heads removed by Ro-Kan.

And the party’s defense attorneys, Saul Bonowitz and Salvatore Skelito? They are quite surprised of find out that they are not in the Realm of of the Red King attending to his High Court. They are, in fact, quite undead, and shocked at this most unprecedented turn of events.

They decide to venture out of the courthouse with the party.

Before the party leaves, they hear a sultry voice in their heads say, “Well done on this round. See you at the next one.”

Scarabaeus is a small mining town on the island of Chult, some 200 leagues and 100 years from our heroes’ last location. Income is derived from a diamond mine in the jungle beyond the town’s borders, and a naturally protected shoreline provides a secure and discrete port for merchant ships transporting raw diamonds to various locations.

The party is quick to insinuate themselves into the town but unable to avoid attention as their mixed racial makeup, mysterious appearance, dated clothing, and heavy armaments stick out in a town of miners, sailors, tradesmen, and fishermen.

A chance encounter at the Generous Pineapple has the party meeting Krag’s grandson, Bachus, as well as Captain Argossy, both of the famous trader’s ship, the Lion’s Mane V.

Securing passage onto the Lion’s Mane was simple enough, as the party has the exact skills the good Captain needs, having lost 2 ships in the past year due to brutal attacks from amphibious ‘frog men’. The creatures attack ships, take prisoners, kill the rest of the crew, and then the sink the ships without taking any of the cargo.

The party’s role: keep the crew alive and the ship afloat
The captain agrees to pay the party with 20 cubic inches of raw diamonds (estimated value of 150,000 gold pieces when cut and polished).

Turin is greeted with a message written in blood after their first night on the ship that reads, ’Welcome aboard, Turin. See you soon. — N"

Whether the party has been cast forward in time by Thor’s design, or the tampering of the forces of Chaos remains to be seen.

The ship’s voyage is threatened almost immediately as on the second night out from Scarabaeus as the alarm is sounded and several shapes are seen in the moonlight closing in fast on the Lion’s Mane — humanoid shapes riding the waves on something just below the surface …